“Matthew something or other. He says you have a group project together?”
I nodded because that was all I could do. Matthew Caldwell was absolutely not a good boy. I was pretty sure he was sent straight from hell just to annoy me.
“He wanted to make sure it was okay to work on it tomorrow afternoon. I’ll drop you off to do your project with him after work. Make sure to get the address from him at school.”
He even assured that I’d talk to him tomorrow?Confident prick.“I’m grounded though,” I said. “I can just split up the work with my group. We don’t have to meet after school.”
“School work always comes first.” He grabbed his plate and placed it in the sink. “I’ll do the dishes if you want to pick the movie.”
I wanted to tell him that Matt was a liar. A cheat. A bully. But I didn’t know how to tell him that without admitting that I’dkissed him. That confession might just tip the scales to me being grounded for eternity. Especially if I was related to him.God, what is wrong with me?
I could ask. I could ask right now and put the issue to rest. But I kept my lips closed. Not knowing the truth was better than knowing in this case. Right? I took a deep breath. None of it mattered because I wasn’t going to kiss him again. I needed to focus on what mattered. “Please don’t make me stop seeing Felix,” I said. “Can’t I just do chores around the house? Or like…write I’m sorry 100 times on a sheet of paper? Or something else to satisfy this whole grounded thing?”
My uncle placed one of the plates in the dry rack. “Your mom never grounded you, huh?”
I sighed. “No. But I also never did anything bad. I was a little preoccupied taking care of her.”
He rinsed off his soapy hands and turned to me. “I can’t stop you from talking to a classmate in school. But right now, I don’t feel comfortable with you hanging out with Felix outside of school.”
“What if he just comes here? While you’re here?”
“Are you actually sorry? Because I haven’t heard you say it yet.”
“Of course I’m sorry.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I didn’t mean to worry you.” I knew how terrible worrying felt. Like a vine encircling your heart and slowly crushing it. “I’m sorry.”
He nodded. “We’ll discuss Felix another week. What kind of guardian would I be if my semester-long grounding only lasted 2 days?”
“A really good one?”
He laughed and started doing dishes again. “Ask me again next week.”
“What about Kennedy?”
“Ask me again next week,” he repeated.
I wasn’t allowed to hang out with Felix or Kennedy but my uncle was forcing me to hang out with Matt? What kind of sick twisted nightmare was I living?
Untouchable - Chapter 22
Tuesday
“I’ll pick you up at 8,” my uncle said.
I stared out the taxi window without moving. When I’d seen the Caldwell’s house on Saturday night, I thought it looked like a haunted mansion. I was picturing the same thing for this house. But the Hunter’s mansion didn’t have the same feel. The gray stone exterior reminded me of a restored estate that had been turned into a museum back home. It wasn’t scary. But it looked equally as cold.
“Kiddo?”
“Yeah?” I turned away from the window.
My uncle was smiling at me. “8 o’clock, okay?”
“You don’t have to pick me up. How much trouble can I get in on the subway?” We’d taken the subway halfway here and a taxi the rest. It was completely insane of him to go so out of his way. Back and forth and back and forth again. But he insisted that grounded kids didn’t ride the subway alone.
“I’ll be waiting right here,” he said.
